But both reds and whites move during full moon periods - before it became illegal we used to really enjoy night diving for crays as you could fin over the reef and literally drop down on crays which were fully exposed - no looping required just quick reflexes.
Given they were freely moving over reefy areas you would have to assume that they were actively feeding and hence should enter pots
Am sure other older (read ancient) divers on here would confirm.
Was a number of years ago when seeing a shark of any kind in metro waters was an absolute novelty.
One of my favourite of night dives mid-winter was the D9 in Cockburn Sound were we would do compass dives collecting scallops and netting giant king prawns - be buggered if I would even consider that in the shark pond it has become
Up untill the mid to late nineties, never saw a shark to speak of. From the late nineties on, too manny down the south coast , and I have a few scars to remember them by. Quick check of the dive log, used to average over 100 hours under water,every year, have hardly dived in the last 9 years. Agree with sunshine to a point.
back in the 80s we used to lift the leg of the outboard on the tinnie and row in onto the top of the reef at times of low swell and low tide , & drop pots directly into the holes on the reef top most where only 4-5 metres deep at best , the placcy pots where easy to drop this way and didn't jam up too much ,with very short ropes no tangles either and we could easily dive on them to free them up anyway
thing is we often got a full bag this way on a full moon and nearly always reds , not whites
my theory is the crays , still had enough darkness/shadow in the bottom of the reef holes to move out in and feed ,as the moon phase went overhead during the night hence our catches where often good
you need to be carefull doing this as you can get swamped easily , and run aground on the reef top ,to get stuck , sit and wait to be lifted up and push off it with the next wave surge ... sometimes a bit hairy , but works well at the right times and especially on the moon , when other places don't catch as well ime
We used to do the same over on Garden Island in the early 70's, except my dad or uncle rowed out from the beach. Heaps of Crays and always a few Abs on the way back.
They say the "white walk" coincides with the new moon. This year they started a couple weeks prior.
Can we expect a second phase after this Friday? What are you divers seeing down there at present and in what depth?
How far do whites travel in a night?
We're currently strung out in 20m and am gearing up this week to go deeper once I see them thin out. We're pulling in front of a couple of Pro strings of which I imagine will move deeper soon too. It would be good to know what people think.
One of my mates told me thismorning guys he knows are still seeing shit loads in close diving another diver I know said there was still heaps of soft ones that haven't moved yet and a mate in Leeman said last night one of the pros told him there would be a second walking of the whites so who bloody knows I hope so as I missed the peak of the whites this time due to work commitments up north but I'm home now until the new year so would be good to get another crack at it after all the time and money I've put in so far . My fingers are crossed but I suppose it's no different to any other sort of fishing everyone's got there theories but there's a lot of luck involved aswell .
Walfootrot
Posts: 1385
Date Joined: 23/07/12
Whites will still walk on a
Whites will still walk on a full moon reds won't
More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!
Mattymac
Posts: 42
Date Joined: 03/04/15
Ok thanx mate
Ok thanx mate
sunshine
Posts: 2676
Date Joined: 03/03/09
I know it is going back a bit
But both reds and whites move during full moon periods - before it became illegal we used to really enjoy night diving for crays as you could fin over the reef and literally drop down on crays which were fully exposed - no looping required just quick reflexes.
Given they were freely moving over reefy areas you would have to assume that they were actively feeding and hence should enter pots
Am sure other older (read ancient) divers on here would confirm.
Walfootrot
Posts: 1385
Date Joined: 23/07/12
You will always have some"
You will always have some" move" but generally you will get lower numbers of reds over the full moon, hence pro's do a 2_3 day pull over the full moon
More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!
Mattymac
Posts: 42
Date Joined: 03/04/15
Well that's good know cheers
Well that's good know cheers mate .... You got brass balls diving at night
sunshine
Posts: 2676
Date Joined: 03/03/09
Turn your torch off
And the sharks cannot see you.
Was a number of years ago when seeing a shark of any kind in metro waters was an absolute novelty.
One of my favourite of night dives mid-winter was the D9 in Cockburn Sound were we would do compass dives collecting scallops and netting giant king prawns - be buggered if I would even consider that in the shark pond it has become
marrisy
Posts: 205
Date Joined: 08/09/11
Up untill the mid to late
Up untill the mid to late nineties, never saw a shark to speak of. From the late nineties on, too manny down the south coast , and I have a few scars to remember them by. Quick check of the dive log, used to average over 100 hours under water,every year, have hardly dived in the last 9 years. Agree with sunshine to a point.
Marrisy.
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
back in the 80s we used to
back in the 80s we used to lift the leg of the outboard on the tinnie and row in onto the top of the reef at times of low swell and low tide , & drop pots directly into the holes on the reef top most where only 4-5 metres deep at best , the placcy pots where easy to drop this way and didn't jam up too much ,with very short ropes no tangles either and we could easily dive on them to free them up anyway
thing is we often got a full bag this way on a full moon and nearly always reds , not whites
my theory is the crays , still had enough darkness/shadow in the bottom of the reef holes to move out in and feed ,as the moon phase went overhead during the night hence our catches where often good
you need to be carefull doing this as you can get swamped easily , and run aground on the reef top ,to get stuck , sit and wait to be lifted up and push off it with the next wave surge ... sometimes a bit hairy , but works well at the right times and especially on the moon , when other places don't catch as well ime
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
We used to do the same over on Garden Island in the early 70's, except my dad or uncle rowed out from the beach. Heaps of Crays and always a few Abs on the way back.
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
22Tango
Posts: 74
Date Joined: 17/11/13
New Moon
They say the "white walk" coincides with the new moon. This year they started a couple weeks prior.
Can we expect a second phase after this Friday? What are you divers seeing down there at present and in what depth?
How far do whites travel in a night?
We're currently strung out in 20m and am gearing up this week to go deeper once I see them thin out. We're pulling in front of a couple of Pro strings of which I imagine will move deeper soon too. It would be good to know what people think.
Thanks in advance for your comments.
My profile picture was taken by my 3 year old son on my iPhone!!
Broome lad
Posts: 191
Date Joined: 16/11/15
Interesting
One of my mates told me thismorning guys he knows are still seeing shit loads in close diving another diver I know said there was still heaps of soft ones that haven't moved yet and a mate in Leeman said last night one of the pros told him there would be a second walking of the whites so who bloody knows I hope so as I missed the peak of the whites this time due to work commitments up north but I'm home now until the new year so would be good to get another crack at it after all the time and money I've put in so far . My fingers are crossed but I suppose it's no different to any other sort of fishing everyone's got there theories but there's a lot of luck involved aswell .